| Arthritis is a more general term used to describe a | | | | And the most 'popular' type or arthritis in the recent |
| disease where inflammation occurs in one or more | | | | years is gout. Gout is an autoimmune disease where |
| joints, which results in pain, swelling, and limited | | | | the body attacks itself because the immune system |
| movement. There are many factors that lead to the | | | | detected a foreign part in the body. This is same as |
| inflammation which resulted in over 100 different types | | | | the self-defense mechanism that is triggered when |
| of arthritis. | | | | one get stung by a bee or bitten by an ant: |
| One may have joint inflammation for variety of | | | | inflammation, burning sensation, and pain. In the case of |
| reasons. For older patients, arthritis (also known as | | | | gout, the pain is so intense that some claim that it is the |
| rheumatoid arthritis) happened because of general | | | | most painful type of arthritis! |
| "wear and tear" throughout the years resulted from | | | | What is the foreign part that triggers gout? It is some |
| various physical activities that apply pressure to the | | | | fine tiny crystal which is known as sodium urate that |
| joints. | | | | formed or crystallized inside the synovial fluid of joints. |
| Infectious arthritis or septic arthritis is a fluid and tissue | | | | Naturally, these crystals are not supposed to float |
| joint infection caused by bacteria, virus or fungus. | | | | around in the joint fluid, so our 'immune police' will |
| These infecting agents spread into the joints via | | | | classify them as foreign invaders and call for a series |
| bloodstream of adjacent infected tissue. It can also be | | | | of immune reaction which resulted in the symptoms |
| a direct result of contamination during surgery, injection | | | | that is known as gout. |
| or injury. | | | | |